Today, thankfully, is a shorter ride and we will enjoy lots of history along the way. A nice breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant and then off in the van to experience Antietam for about an hour. If you were traveling on your own, you could spend a lot more time – but this trip isn’t about touring battlefields – it’s about riding our bikes to Washington DC!

Antietam is an incredible historical National Park worthy of the experience. Well done in so many ways. I really won’t bore you in the blog with lots of details that you can read on the National Park website or Wikipedia. Just to see this site is moving and I am glad to be able to spend the time. Over 22,000 soldiers were killed in a 12 hour battle. After this battle, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. https://www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm

Many pictures, starting with Dunker Church – which survived this battle and saved lives because they heard the battle coming towards them on September 17, 1862.

The Mumma Farm – burned by the Confederates to prevent Union snipers from taking it over and rebuilt by the family and neighbors. The family survived because they were at church and went to the town to be safe from the battle. The cornfields were there during the war and this year, there just happens to be cornfields.

This area is called the Sunken Road (Bloody Lane). Sad how many died here.

There is a tower built by the War Department to enable you to see the complete area where the battle occurred. You can climb the 68 steps to the top and get an incredible view of the terrain that this battle took place.

Now we are going back to the hotel and having our bikes unloaded from the trailer and ready to ride again on the bike tour down the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Trail. A slight modification is happening because White’s Ferry is closed so we have to drive around to our hotel in Leesburg at the end of the day. Off we go!!

This part of the trail is cinder and easy to ride through the tree canopy, continuing along the old canal on one side and the Potomac River on the other. First stop, Harper’s Ferry. If you have not been here, it is an amazing place with lots of history. Now, if you are Megan, her comment was, “History, blah, blah, blah – not interested.” Completely understand many people aren’t that interested…my family, we love it! And having never been to Harper’s Ferry, we spend the time reading the plaques and enjoying learning about this town that existed and was in the center of so much of our country’s early history. Remember the John Brown incident with the Armory? And did you know that Lewis & Clark obtained their provisions in 1803 at Harper’s Ferry? Plus the Appalachian Trail crosses here! So much history, Megan!

One little fun view is of the stone above the Harper’s Ferry train tunnel. It is faded but you can almost make it out – the first bill board? “Mennen’s Borated Talcum Toilet Powder.”

Back on the trail after exploring Harper’s Ferry, we meet for lunch at the van. Leaving the lunch stop, we continue to follow along the Potomac and the canal. On the Potomac you can see people enjoy their summer by cooling off in the river. The temperatures today are in the 90’s – quite hot!

The trail is smooth and tree-lined with lock houses and interesting tunnels underneath modern roadways.

Our final stop for the day is at another aqueduct – Monocacy. Quite an engineering feat.

And finally, I step into a Lock.

Of course, always snacks before our bikes our loaded onto the van and the 30 minute drive to check-in to the hotel.

Tonight we enjoy a final group dinner. Fun last evening before we sleep and prepare for the last 40 miles or so of the trip – in to Washington DC.